


The Seemingly Endless Stairway

by orphan_account



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Haunted House, Hell, High School AU, Stairs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-21 23:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3707255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone said "Highway to Hell", but Castiel knew better. The way into Hell wasn't a highway at all, but a stairway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Haunted House

Everyone said "Highway to Hell", but Castiel knew better. The way into Hell wasn't a highway at all, but a stairway.

***

Castiel Novak would have been looked down upon in his school if he hadn't been friends with the Winchesters. They were good friends on the one hand, but on the other, they dragged him to all their outings and social gatherings, which was nerve racking. They didn't give him the status of 'cool', but he was usually thought of as something along the lines of 'to be ignored', which was completely fine with Cas. He enjoyed not being talked to by anyone but his friends. Sometimes Sam and Dean felt bad, but he brushed off their pity. It was perfect to him. And anyway, he was in grade twelve. It was his last year in highschool.

One night, Dean dragged Cas to a party. It wasn't very fun and everyone else wa drunk. Sometimes it was funny to see all the crazy antics they would get up to while intoxicated, but tonight proved to be pretty boring. It was boring, until some guy suggested, "Let's go to the haunted house!" 

At this, Cas had started sweating. His trenchcoat suddenly became too hot, so he took it off, clinging to it. 

"Scared, Cas?" A random girl cried drunkenly. This was why he preferred to be ignored. Otherwise, they would make him do things that he didn't want to. He didn't say anything to the girl's question, though he was scared. Many people had died going into that house. The legend was this: The house belonged to a man who was rumoured to be crazy. Specifically, he was drinking blood that he claimed belonged to a 'demon'. Over the course of two years, he became a demon himself. The story was that he cursed the stairs so once you stepped on them, you had to keep climbing forever. They never ended, and you would walk yourself to death.

Cas thought this story was complete shit, of course. But he did believe there was something going on in that old creaky house, and he didn't want to find out. 

He shivered as he stepped into the cold air, searching for his car. Thankfully, it was right where he left it, beside Dean's on the driveway. He would have to wait for everyone else to get out of the driveway first, though. He opened the door and started the car, hoping no one would ask for a ride.

He was out of luck.

A girl knocked on the window, and he let her in reluctantly. "Don't you have your own car?" He demanded.

"I came with my friend." She answered, not fazed by his hostility. "Anyway," she added breezily, "I shouldn't drive if I'm drunk, right?"

Cas cast a sidelong glance at her. "You don't look drunk."

"Smart boy." She laughed. "I'm not. I had one beer, and I don't enjoy being drunk much."

He knew that she had had a drunk look about her before. "Then why do you pretend you are?"

"Ah, ya got me. It's fun to pretend, Clarence." She replied, grinning. Cas wondered why she would lie about that.

"My name's not Clarence." He objected, glancing suspiciously at her. She seemed dangerous.

"Well, I'm Meg Masters, and you are Castiel Novak." She announced. Cas wondered why she knew his name. Meg seemed to read his mind. "Didn't think anyone knew who you are? Everyone knows, Clarence. The boy who no one knows why the Winchesters keep."

"They're my friends." Cas cried. Did people really think that about him? He himself often wondered why the Winchesters kept him around.

"You aren't anything like them, kid." She reminded him.

"They're my friends." Cas insisted. But were they really? Cas shook his head. This girl was planting bad thoughts in his head.

"I know." Meg whispered. Tension filled the musty air of the car. "Come on, drive. You can get out now."

The drive to the haunted house was joyful. Cas liked Meg Masters. Their conversation went something like this:

"You think maybe it's like the shrieking shack?" Cas had asked thoughtfully.

"What in Hell's that?" She cried, eyes bright.

"Harry Potter! Surely you've heard of Harry Potter!" Cas cried, glancing over at her.

"I've seen a couple of the movies." Meg admitted. "But what's the shrieking shack?"

"Well, it's in Hogsmeade, and everyone thought it was haunted, but really, it's just where Remus Lupin went when he turned into a werewolf every month when he went to Hogwarts." Cas explained patiently.

"I'll pretend I know what all that means." Meg laughed. Her smile was beautiful, but there was something odd about her. Cas thought he was a good judge of character and he felt like she was filled to the brim with potential. Not potential to do well, get a job, but potential to be good or bad. And looking at her now, he realized she hadn't decided yet.

"Read the books." Cas suggested.

"Nah, I don't read." Meg replied. She said it so casually, but Cas couldn't understand how she didn't like reading.

"You have to! Harry Potter's really good." Cas insisted. He wouldn't give up on her.

"Maybe you could read them to me." Her tone was light, but Cas looked alarmed. "You really don't know a lot of people, do you?" 

He shook his head. "No. But I would. Read them to you, I mean."

"Alright then, Clarence. It's a date." She grinned widely.

Cas's face turned bright red. "A d-date?" He stuttered.

"Oh, right. This is you. Sure, why not. Let's go on a date." She thought for a moment. "We can read Harry Potter and order pizza."

Cas's face reddened further. "O-okay."

"You're gonna need my number, Clarence." She scribbled it onto a piece of paper, putting it down on the dashboard of the car.

Cas grinned. He had a date now. A nice one where he could eat pizza and read Harry Potter. 

"If we survive this." Meg added mysteriously. The rest of the ride was silent, and both Cas and Meg had smiles on their faces.

The haunted house was smaller than Cas had expected. He got separated from Meg as everyone got out of their cars, but was still close to Dean. The floor creaked as they entered. The old house probably hadn't had this many people in it in years. Cas noticed with a start that almost half of the people who were at the party didn't come. Maybe they were too drunk. Or maybe they were scared.

The group approached the stairs. There was graffiti on the wall beside it that said 'beware'. Cas suspected that whoever wrote it was right: a sinister feeling had come over him when he entered the house. As they gathered around the ominous staircase, someone yelled, "Who's gonna go up?"

No one answered for a moment. Suddenly, Dean, who was still very drunk, cried, "Castiel Novak!" The first thought that hit him was _Why did Dean feel like he needed to say my whole name?_ And then he realized everyone was whooping ang hollering and he was either to go up the goddamn stairway or run with his tail between his legs. He decided the former was better than the latter.

"Fine, fine." He sighed. Everyone shut up, except for a few gasps of surprise. As he stepped forward, another voice rang out.

"Wait, Cas! I'll go with you!" It was Meg. Cas almost made the mistake of sighing a sigh of visible relief, but held it in. He mouthed _Thank you_ to her when she arrived at his side. She nodded and they set off. Up the cursed stairs.

They seemed to walk for ages and ages before Cas noticed a small change: the air was growing warmer and warmer. They had definitely walked for at least an hour, both silent. Cas suspected that everyone was already gone, assuming they were dead and feeding the crap legend.

"You know," Cas suggested quietly, "we could turn around now and tell them some shit story about the 'ghost' letting us go."

"But we're so close..." Meg's voice was barely audible. He could almost feel all the potential energy inside of her sliding... but he he had a very horrible feeling she had turned to the bad side. Suddenly, the stairs ended. A bright white light was at the end of the long hallway, but the light, Cas realized the longer he stared at it, the more he saw that was tinted red. 

Meg hurried. Her face was practically glowing with excitement, or maybe that was the light at the end.

Soon, they stood before the light. Meg was grinning, but Cas couldn't even pretend to be excited now. This was probably how they all died. The other people who came here.

Meg leaned in towards the light. Suddenly, she was pulled in. Cas gasped and steppef back, too far now for anything to reach him. Suddenly, he heard Meg's faint voice. It sounded strained. "Go, Cas. Leave. They want you, your pure soul..."

And it was silent once again. He waited for ten minutes, standing just out of reach of what he realized was a portal. He sat for a very long time still. Suddenly, he realized that he what he had just witnessed. His head was spinning with tiredness. He pounded back down the hall and down the stairs, which seemed to shrink immensely. He burst out of the house and into his car. He began to drive, and noticed something white on the dashboard. It was Meg's number. He felt his eyes close and took his hands off the wheel, stuffing the slip of paper in his pocket. He was asleep by the time the car crashed.


	2. Back, But Not Really

It had been a month since the accident. Castiel preferred to think if it as 'the accident' and refer to the car crash rather than think of Meg. He had turned over the whole thing in his mind every day, trying to think of some way he could have avoided Meg being taken. Maybe if he hadn't let her into his car, they wouldn't have become friends. Then she wouldn't have gone up the stairs with him. 

He talked about Meg to no one, no matter how many times people pestered him with questions, including the police. Thye had come to investigate her death, but they really couldn't bring him anywhere. He was still in the hospital, he had lost track of what for. His leg was definitely broken, and something had happened to his lungs, and about a million other things. 

Cas's father insisted he was depressed, but his mother claimed that he was still in shock. Sometimes Cas wondered which it was. Even he himself couldn't figure it out.

The first day Sam and Dean came to visit, it was disastrous. 

"Are you okay?" Sam had asked quietly, watching all the monitors and tubes with a nervous look.

"No." Cas mumbled in reply. He wanted them out. He didn't want to talk right now.

"You must be in shock." Sam commented, now looking directly at Cas.

Dean spoke up now. He wasn't very gentle. "Cas, d'you think you can tell us what happened?"

Cas felt anger bubble up inside of him. He had told every one that asked no! Why were these two any different? "No!" He snapped with a coldness he didn't know he was capable of.

"Don't you think... don't you think it might help to talk about it?" Sam looked pained. Cas knew this look: Sam was dying to know what happened but had the sense not to ask.

"No." Cas repeated. He felt tears in his eyes. He didn't want to be questioned about Meg. 

Dean was completely oblivious. "C'mon, Cas. We're your friends. Give us the scoop. Two people went in and one came out." 

"No!" Cas shouted, eyes blazing with fury. Tears rolled down his cheeks and he looked away, waiting for someone to say, 'You'll get over it,' or mutter 'He'll spill someday,' under their breath. No one did. When Sam and Dean left, he heard them talking to the nurse.

"Well, that's the biggest show of emotion we've seen since he came here." He said.

"He's quiet at school, too." Dean replied. Is that what they thought of him? Quiet and loyal? Those were good things, but was that all? Meg thought he was more than that.

He kept Meg's number, though there was no need for it now. He had it memorized. His phone was beside the hospital bed, and he kept dialing it but never having the courage to click the call button. He was worried that her parents would pick up, or else an automated voice would say something about how this number didn't exist. That would make everything worse. So he kept the number dialed and his what-ifs never confirmed.

One day his phone rang, which was odd, nowadays. After the first few days of people he vaguely knew calling with condolences, no one called. Every one who was close enough to call him just visited.

He checked the number.

His heart pounded.

It was Meg's. Was this someone's idea of a joke? He picked it up. 

"Hey, Clarence." The voice echoed, he wondered why. 

Maybe it was because she was sitting on the end of his bed.

"Meg?" Cas's voice was hoarse. "How are you here?" His voice was dry and brittle. He had only used it to say _yes_ or _no_ or the occasional _thank you_ throughout the month.

"Well, Clarence, that big old light was a portal to Hell." Her eyes flashed black. "And they made me a demon."

Cas's throat went dry. The colour drained from his face. "A-a demon?" 

Meg laughed. "I should have expected this, considering how you are with humans." Her voice had changed. It was louder, darker.

"I- um." Cas didn't know what to say. He wasn't scared. He had to trust her, he had to. He couldn't defend himself against a person, let alone a demon. 

"Why'd you let yourself get all banged up?" She asked. The question hit him hard. He had told everyone he fell asleep at the wheel, that it was entirely accidental. But the truth was, he'd had too much in the rickety old house. He didn't answer Meg's question, though. His mouth seemed to be glued shut.

"You didn't tell anyone what happened, did you." Her voice had an edge of dread in it.

Cas shook his head. "Everyone would have said I was crazy."

"Not everyone." Meg whispered. "Did the Winchesters ever tell you what Daddy does for a living?"

"He's a mechanic." Cas replied nervously. What were the Winchesters not telling him?

"They're hunters, Cas. Monster hunters. They've killed many of my kind." Meg explained, looking away for a moment. Her eyes immediately became fixed on Cas once again.

"You were only there for a month, though." Cas reminded her. "How would you know?"

Meg shivered. "Time goes by differently in Hell. For you it was a month, there it was about twenty years." She answered, sighing heavily. "I'm not supposed to come topside. But I forgot what this world was like."

"Really?" Cas breathed. His eyes were wide and curious.

"You forget a lot in twenty years." She paused thoughtfully. "But I never forgot you. Not once."

Cas let out a tiny breath. "I never forgot you, either."

"'Course you didn't." Her eyes glinted in the artificial light of the hospital room. She went rigid. "People are coming. I gotta go." She looked over at him. "I'll be back, don't worry." She added after seeing the nervous look in Cas's eyes.

Then she was gone.

Sam and Dean walked into the room slowly. Dean looked apprehensive, but Sam was just exasperated. "Cas. They sent us here to talk to you since we're friends, instead of a stranger." Sam paused, glancing apologetically at Cas. "They want you to talk about Meg."

Cas felt better about it now that she was back. He was pretty sure he could talk about her without feeling the gaping hole where she used to be. "Okay." He said quietly. "But I still won't tell you what happened."

"Yeah. Okay." Dean answered. They looked a little surprised that he agreed to this. "Well, we wanted to know... why you are so upset about her. You never talked to her."

Cas took a few minutes to come up with an answer. This was harder than he expected. "I... I did talk to her. On the way to the... house... I gave her a ride." His every instinct was telling him to shut up. "We talked a lot." He felt the worn, creased slip of paper that had her number in his hand. "She... I... we became friends." How was he to say this out loud? 

"What's that?" Sam asked. He had spotted the tiny piece of paper. 

Cas took a deep breath. "H-her number." He stuttered.

"Is _that_ why you're so upset?" Dean asked. His eyebrows were raised questioningly.

"No!" Cas cried. Why would he think that? "She was my friend."

Dean looked at his feet. "Cas. She was the type of person who set fire to butterfly wings."

" _You're_ that type of person! You didn't know her, Dean." Cas whispered. Tears stung his eyes.

"You didn't know her either, Cas." Dean said sadly. He met Cas's gaze now.

"What does your family really do, guys?" Cas snapped. "Your dad isn't a mechanic. She said you killed her kind!" Tears flowed freely now. This was a horrible idea. Meg was a much better friend than these two.

Dean looked dumbfounded. "Who said that? Who's she?"

Sam blanched. "It's Meg, isn't it?" His eyes were wide and scared. Cas nodded. "What is she, Cas?" 

"You'll kill her." Cas hissed. He had let it slip! Now they would go after Meg and it was all his fault.

"What is she, Cas? This is important." Dean whispered. "If she's evil, then you shouldn't be near her, especially in this state."

Cas felt his heart pounding. "She's a better friend than you two." He said venomously. Maybe they would leave him alone soon. Maybe Meg would kill them for him.

"No, Cas. If we've killed her kind, she's evil!" Dean practically growled. His green eyes were narrowed.

"Maybe that's none of your business. Maybe she's different." Cas replied. His face was stony.

Sam was at the end of Cas's bed. "Dean, look! Sulfur!"

"She's a demon, Cas?" Dean's face was white. "You are friends with a demon?"

"That's what happens to the people who go up the stairs?" Sam demanded.

Cas had thought about Sam's question. He had a theory for it. "At the top of the stairs, there's a portal to Hell. Meg went in. She told me not to. So I ran. I think that... this is just a theory, really, but I think most of them don't become demons. I think just the ones that have..." He struggled to find the fight words. "The ones that have potential for darkness."

"So Meg was bad. When she was alive." Dean said quietly. 

"Shut up!" Cas shouted. He should have never let them talk to him!

"Cas-"

"Shut up! Go away, _go away_!" His voice was hoarse now. Anger welled up in him. He wished Meg would come back.

She did.

"He said go away." She told them casually. Her eyes were black.

"Meg?" Both Sam and Dean stepped back. 

"Winchesters. I suggest you go away. You've killed many of my brothers and sisters and I think they'd be happy to see your heads on a plate." She snarled. Her hands curled ino fists. 

Dean looked scared. He had never come into a situation like this so unprepared, Cas suspected. "Just go." Cas croaked. The Winchesters left, and Meg and Cas were alone again. He looked at Meg. "You're back. But not really."

"Same with you, kid." Meg replied. "When's all this," She asked, gesturing to the various tubes and monitors beside the bed, "coming off?"

"Soon. I'm not even sure what's wrong with me." Cas answered breathlessly. It was just hittiing him now: the enormity of the situation. Meg, who he had thought dead for a month, was here. She was here. He had so much to say, and yet, he couldn't say it.

"Well, you better get better soon. You still gotta read me Harry Potter." Meg said. She moved closer to him.

"That's still on?" He grinned. He was very glad Meg was back.

"'Course it is, Clarence."  She replied. SHe was grinning, too.

"Okay. But we have to wait until I'm out of this damn bed." Cas announced. 

"Didn't think you had any motivation. Aren't you still in shock or something?" Her voice was playful. Her voice right now, gleeful, was very different from what it was in his nightmares.

"Well, I didn't, but now you're here." He replied. Looking back, he really was like that: no reason to get up in the morning.

"Okay, a little over-eager." She was joking, but Cas froze. "Oh, I'm kidding. Relax, Cas. I forgot you were like this." She said exasperatedly, rolling her eyes.

"They said I'm gonna be here for another three weeks at least." Cas was mostly thinking out loud.

"Maybe I'll bring the books here." Me suggested. Cas sat up. It felt good to sit up. He hadn't done it in so long. Meg looked at him intently, staring into his eyes. Then, out of nowhere, she kissed him.

Cas's first thought was _This should be weird, she's a demon_. But it wasn't weird. It was perfect.


End file.
